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Tuesday, 13 November 2012

The shops are starting to fill up with all sorts of sparkly stuff at the moment, ready for Christmas and "the party season"... so it seems rather appropriate to be reviewing a craft book that's all about glitter!

Just like Momtaz herself, this book is fun and colourful and crafty and very sparkly... the cover even has glittery text on it, which is rather cool.

The book includes a "Master It!" section which covers the techniques used in the book - check out the fab sparkly nails in those pics!

There's a history of glitter, information about how it's made and info about the different types of glitter & how to use them. There's also an A to Z of places/ways to find inspiration, and a guide to keeping scrapbooks which I think is a great addition to a beginner-friendly craft book. The reader is really encouraged to use their imagination, and to not feel intimidated by crafting but to just get stuck in and be creative.

The projects in the book are divided into four sections - fashion & accessories, home & interiors, gifts & food, and cards & papercraft. They're illustrated with a photograph of the finished item, and include step by step instructions and a list of the materials you'll need to make it. There are also small project ideas dotted throughout the book, like covering toy cars with glitter to make favours for a Bond-themed party, or making glitter jelly.

Lots of the projects are fun ideas for customising / decorating things to make them super sparkly.

There are glitter-covered buttons...

... a dustpan and brush decorated with glitter, fake flowers and toy soldiers...

... and ornaments made using glitter-coated embroidery hoops (I love this idea!).

But there are also projects to make things from scratch, like this jewelled crown...

... and these fun glitter-filled bracelets which are similar to some I owned (and adored) as a teen:

As you might have guessed, this isn't a stylish coffee table book with chic projects and exquisitely styled photography... instead it's got a fun, teen-friendly feel to it. Some of the photo spreads remind me of teen magazines...

... and there are a whole bunch of fun details throughout the book, like a guide to "how to spy animals in the wild" which includes the tip "learn to speak in an animal tongue and arrange a meeting with the leader of the pack".

I probably wouldn't make most of the projects in here for myself, but I would have loved this book when I was a teenager with a big collection of sparkly nail polish... and most of the designs would have been a HUGE hit with my friends if I'd made them for birthday/Christmas gifts. Most of the projects are quite easy/accessible to make, great for younger or less experienced crafters or anyone after a quick crafty fix. A lot of them would be great craft projects for crafty afternoons with friends or for making at a birthday party (where you'd have to serve some of that glitter jelly!).

I think this book would be a fab gift for crafty teens or for any of your friends who like all things sparkly - or, of course, a great addition to your bookshelf if you're a glitter fan yourself!

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comments:

I wrote a tutorial for this book, but I haven't seen the final print so I don't know if I made the cut. Is there a tutorial on making shrink plastic ziggy stardust earrings? The glitter link was kinda tenuous, so that's why I suspect it's not there, but Momtaz really liked them.

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